Joan Jett

As both the rock 'n' roll rebel soul of the Runaways and a solo star, Joan Jett championed the simple truths of rock stripped to its raw core. The rampaging riffs of the teenage Runaways' jailbait jam "Cherry Bomb" ignited a femme-rock explosion that's still echoing today. On her own, Jett amped up the glam and power-pop for eternal jukebox anthems, like the shout-and-stomp-along "I Love Rock 'N' Roll" and the Ramones-paced bad-girl boast "Bad Reputation." Through it all, she's injected that essential sweaty essence of teen lust, and nowhere more so than on her cover of Gary Glitter's arena-sized glam classic "Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)." Joan honors her influences in Next Steps.

Just as tough girls the Runaways inspired generations of rockin' ladies, Joan Jett's engine was revved by the roughhouse rock 'n' roll heavyweights who came before her. Eddie Cochran's rockabilly original and Blue Cheer's fuzz-rock remake probably offered equal inspiration to Joan's punked-up take on "Summertime Blues." When she adds some garage grit to "Real Wild Child" she's tipping her hat to old-school wild man Jerry Lee Lewis and proto-punk Stooge-saint Iggy Pop at the same time. Turnabout is fair play, of course, and grunge goddesses L7 bring things full circle by joining their hard-rockin' heroine for a revved-up revamp of "Cherry Bomb," the song that started the ball rolling.

With her biker-gal black-leather look, whiskey-and-cigarettes voice, and primal rock riffs, Joan Jett dragged rock's primordial goodness back to center stage when others were tarting things up with syrupy synths and deadpan drum machines. Pumping up the volume on the sounds of her youth, she added hard-rock edge and punk attitude to her beloved '60s pop and '70s glam, turning Tommy James' "Crimson and Clover" into a sexually ambiguous power ballad, and giving Gary Glitter an '80s update. Every butt-kicking female rocker around today owes her hell-raising heart to Joan. You'll get the whole story right here, from her early reign with original Queens of Noise the Runaways to her '80s MTV-icon era and her eventual status as godmother of rabble-rousing, no-nonsense rock 'n' roll animals everywhere.